The Importance of User Reviews for Local SEO
Local businesses face many challenges. Getting customers to your front door is probably the first on your list. Even if you have a steady flow of loyal customers, you still need to have a consistent stream of new people coming in as well. So, the first question you should be asking is what should I be doing to get more customers? Well, we’re here to help.
Whether you know it or not, your business’s online presence is either propelling you forward or holding you back. Boosting your business’s local SEO will help your business get the attention it needs and ultimately get customers to your brick-and-mortar front door. But, what is local SEO and how can it drive your business?
How to Drive More Business with Local SEO
Local SEO stands for local search engine optimization and is the process of optimizing your business to generate traffic from location-based searching. In generic terms, use local SEO correctly and customers are more likely to find your businesses through online search engines. In fact, with the rise of Google and more specifically mobile search, local SEO is more important than ever before. It’s estimated that 43% of all Google, 25% of all Bing, and 25% of all Yahoo searches are location specific. In a study cited by Forbes, it’s found that 50% of consumers who conduct a local search on their phone visit the store they found that same day.
SEO Takes Time
This means that if your business isn’t ranking highly in your specific area, your brick and mortar location could be losing customers and falling behind to your competitors. While improving SEO takes time, there’s one tool local businesses are using to improve local SEO: business reviews.
How to Get Online Reviews to Boost Local SEO
The popularity of sites like Yelp and Google have driven customer reviews through the roof. In the past, one frustrated customer could vent their frustration to a handful of people. Today that one customer airs their complaints to millions of potential customers online. On the other hand, happy customers can help drive new customers straight to your business. In a study conducted by Harvard Business School, they found that a single star increase in an average restaurant review can boost revenue by 5-9%. This translates to $100k-180k additional revenue per year for a business that grosses $2 million a year.
Boost Revenue
So, how do you begin? In the past, gathering reviews was purely organic. While this is still true, today there are a variety of tools that businesses can utilize that encourage customers to review their business. Legit Local, let’s you do just that.
Legit Local enables businesses to foster positive online reviews and feedback from customers in a genuine way. Depending on your business’s needs, Legit Local sends out tens of thousands of review invites every month that helps improve conversion, boost revenue, and, yes, increase local SEO.
Legit Local
It shouldn’t cost you thousands per year to boost your local SEO. That’s why we created Legit Local– the lowest cost offering that exists. Legit Local enables small businesses like you to foster positive online reviews and feedback from customers in a genuine way. Learn more.
